When it comes to the displays of most modern-day smartphones, there is a constant strive for innovative ways to create a totally infinite edge-to-edge display. For those that are unfamiliar, the infinite display simply means the front display on your phone has no bezels and is completely interactive touch-screen glass. The concept and idea would have sounded almost science fiction 5 years ago, but the rate at which technology in smartphones is advancing is astonishing (just look at the Galaxy Fold for example).
The main issue phone manufacturers are running into with accomplishing infinite displays is the relocation of important forward-facing elements such as the forward-facing camera, sensors, or fingerprint scanners. To get over these hurdles phone designers from various brands have come up with some very innovative ways to bring more room for glass, and less for those unsightly bezels.
Handling the Forehead: The Front Facing Camera
If you’ve had a phone within the last 2 years you’ve probably personally been exposed to or at least heard of the app Snapchat. Snapchat allows us to communicate with our friends by means of pictures we take of our surroundings, often funny or genuinely happy moments. Often, you likely end up utilizing your smartphone’s front-facing camera to take that perfect selfie of you and your friends at the summer fair! Now as fun as that is, our job is to get an infinite touchscreen display, so what do we do with the important forward-facing camera?
Well, it seems companies like Asus and OnePlus have come up with two different but inventive ways to move the camera elsewhere. Asus recently released their Zenfone 6 and the device utilizes a swivel technique that allows your rear-facing camera to literally swivel around and become your front-facing camera whenever you need it! Most of the time, if you want higher quality photos you need to utilize your phone’s rear camera as it usually has superior technology and obtains sharper images. The Zenfone 6 allows you to never short yourself on quality and accomplishes our task of bringing more glass to the top of the phone.
OnePlus, on the other hand, has opted for the front-facing camera to be stowed away in the top of the phone. Whenever you need to snap that selfie, simply open the front camera on the camera app and the internal motor will push the camera out of the top of the device. Both methods hide or repurpose existing mechanics effectively and showcase just a few of the innovative ways companies accomplish beautiful edge-to-edge displays.
What about the Chin: The Home Button/Fingerprint Sensor?
This one is a little bit peskier and harder to overcome. Traditionally, companies have stored fingerprint scanners in home buttons and placed them either on the bottom of the phone or with Google’s Pixel on the back below the rear camera. Now, this method worked to provide more room on the front of the phone when simply placing the button on the back of the device, but for some companies, this isn’t enough!
Many different brands in the industry are testing internal under the screen fingerprint scanners by use of light emitted from the screen to reflect an image of fingerprints instead of traditional electrical current methods. With this technology, companies remove the home-button and provide a cleaner look, with all the same functionality. (And yes, I can’t wait to upgrade to the next iPhone that does this!)
In conclusion, those are just some of the crazy things going on within phone development and technological advancement to make your devices sleeker, cleaner, and more professional. If you want to share in some of these cool features with a newer phone, you can consider recycling your phone with companies like sellbroke.com for a cash payment towards purchasing your next upgrade. Sellbroke will not only pay you more, but they will also ensure that your old devices are not contributing to the massive e-waste problem and each usable part recycled will be reused.
With infinite displays, and folding screens, who knows what smartphones will look like 5 years from now?
